Defense Carries Louisville to Victory Over NC State

With their offense struggling to get going, the Cardinals relied on their defense to propel them to a win in their first true road game of the season and remain undefeated.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Over the their first four games of the 2023 season, the Louisville football program had began to make a name for themselves when it came to their offensive prowess. After all, they were coming off of a 56 point and 585 yard performance against Boston College, and had the No. 4 offense in college football at 542.0 yards per game heading into their matchup at NC State. It was the primary for their first 4-0 start since Lamar Jackson's Heisman Trophy campaign

However, the script was flipped in their showdown with the Wolfpack. Instead of lighting up the scoreboard at Carter-Finley Stadium in and riding their offense to victory, Louisville relied on a hard-nosed and aggressive defense to capture a win, escaping Raleigh, N.C with a come-from behind 13-10 win to maintain their undefeated status.

"Our defense was aggressive in their approach all day," head coach Jeff Brohm said. "We got after the quarterback, we challenged routes. When you have two really veteran corners that can guard one-on-one, we allowed them to do that. That really helped us win the football game."

On top of holding NC State to just 10 points, Louisville only allowed them to put up 201 total yards of offense. It was the Wolfpack's lowest offensive output since Notre Dame held them to just 198 yards back on Oct. 8, 2016.

A large part of this, as Brohm alluded to, was making quarterback Brennan Armstrong extremely uncomfortable. After not generating a ton of pressure from the front seven over their first four games, Louisville saw an uptick in their blitz percentage against the Wolfpack, and it worked.

By game's end, Louisville had totaled just a pair of sacks, but the front seven was in Armstrong's face all night long and forcing him to make hurried throws, finishing just 13-for-25 for 112 passing yards. This increase in pressure also stifled the NC State run game, with Louisville generating eight tackles for loss and limiting the Pack to just 89 yards on the ground with 61 of it coming from Armstrong.

Defensive end Ashton Gillotte and defensive tackle Ramon Puryear each had a sack, while linebacker T.J. Quinn was instrumental in stopping the run, tallying a game-high 11 tackles.

"We've been close to some sacks the first four games, and for whatever reason, haven't made them," Brohm said. "Sometimes that happens, but we've been applying pressure. Today we dialed up even more. It helped those guys kind of break loose. I think we defended, and got in front of guys, and got our hands on him and made the quarterback hold the ball longer. All those things matter.

"I really just think it was a really good plan, that our guys executed well and allowed those defensive linemen to to make some really good plays. I'm very proud of their effort."

Of course, this defensive effort isn't complete without a complementary showing from the secondary. This unit played tight coverage all night long, forcing Armstrong to hold the ball longer than he wanted, which was part of the reason with the front seven and defensive line had so much success against him.

On top of that, all three turnovers by Armstrong - two interceptions and a fumble - were generated by the secondary. Following the go-ahead field goal, cornerback Quincy Riley secured the game-sealing interception. Safety Cam'Ron Kelly was arguably the defensive MVP of the showdown, snagging a pick in the end zone on NC State's first drive of the second half to put a half to their momentum, then forcing a fumble which led to the game-tying field goal.

"To be honest, I owed them boys one," Kelly said, who spent the first four years of his collegiate career with North Carolina, who is on a two-game losing streak to their in-state rival. "That stuck with me for a long time. I'm just glad I had the chance to go perform today, and help my team win. That was a blast from the past, but I'm here now."

But most importantly, the defense didn't take their foot off the gas for the entire matchup, even when it seemed at times that the offense might not be able to help out on their end. Regardless of the performance of their offensive counterparts, the defense was just worried about doing their job and controlling what they could control.

"Obviously, we trust our offense. But, we also have to take accountability on defense," Gillotte said. "We can't just rely on people to score, that's not how football works. It's a team game. We give our best foot every time, we're going to go out make stops. We need to do this our job. At the end of the day, this is how you're supposed to play defense. Win games on defense."

As a result, the defense produced a second half shutout for the second time in three games, which served as a big enough spark for the offense to get out of first gear and put up the points necessary to secure a win. It also marked their second win of the season after trailing by double digits at halftime, which is a far cry from how Louisville had performed under previous head coach Scott Satterfield.

"I think it shows our heart," Gillotte said. "We're obviously a competitive team. We want to win games. If that wasn't a dogfight, I don't know what was. I think we showed a lot of character, a lot of heart. In years past, we haven't fought for games like that. I think that's definitely a good thing, a good sign."

(Photo of Ashton Gillotte: Rob Kinnan - USA TODAY Sports)

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